Three students in Tamil Nadu commit suicide after failing NEET exam, sets off political uproar

Rithu Sree’s parents told media that their daughter secured 490 marks in Class 12th exams and now she had committed suicide because she wasn’t able to clear the NEET.

Political leaders and the public have demanded the Centre to ban NEET. While #BanNEET started to trend on Twitter, DMK leader MK Stalin lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for remaining silent over the burning issue.

In a statement, Stalin said “Over 75,000 students from Tamil Nadu failed to clear NEET. Two students had taken their lives in frustration; this is an example of how NEET is destroying TN youngsters’ medical aspirations. A resolution was passed in the Tamil Nadu assembly demanding the centre to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET. The Narendra Modi-led government should immediately get the President’s approval for the resolution.”

Tamil Nadu, however, saw a significant improvement in the performance of its students in this year examination as the qualifying percentage jumped to 48.57 per cent from last year’s 39.56 per cent.

Several political leaders and celebrities including Puducherry Chief Minister Narayanasamy, AMMK Chief TTV Dinakaran, and Film Director Pa. Ranjith said NEET should be abolished in Tamil Nadu. PMK youth-wing leader Anbumani Ramadoss said: “The Central Government should come forward to abolish NEET and should uphold social justice.”

AIADMK and BJP leaders played safe over the issue. AIADMK Minister for co-operation Sellur K. Raju said, “We have not changed our stand on NEET; we said Tamil Nadu should be exempted from NEET. Since NEET is compulsory in other states, we are also following it.”

“In comparison with other states, Tamil Nadu students have done a fair job, he added.

Tamil Nadu BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan said more students have passed in the state than last year. She also blamed the opposition for making false propaganda amongst students about NEET.

In 2017, there was a huge turmoil in the state after a 19-year-old S.Anitha, a Dalit student from Ariyalur committed suicide after failing to clear NEET. Despite securing 1176 marks in her board examinations, she was not able to score higher marks in NEET.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducted NEET declared the highly anticipated results on June 5th. A total of 59,785 students managed to clear the test from Tamil Nadu. The qualifying percentage saw a jump to 48.57 per cent from last year’s 39.56 per cent. The NEET was conducted on May 5th in 14 centres across the state and a total of 1,23,078 students had appeared for the test from the state which vehemently opposed the medical admission on the basis of NEET marks.

Seventeen-year-old K. Shruthi from Vellamal Knowledge Park, Ponneri, has emerged as the Tamil Nadu topper in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). Having secured 685 marks out of 720, Shruthi was also ranked 57th all over India.  Amongst physically-challenged candidates, Karavannan Prabhu topped the state with 572 marks.